He had wanted to retire when President Ismail Omar Guelleh (AC Vol 40 No 13) took over from his uncle Hassan Gouled Aptidon in 1999 but was persuaded to stay to provide continuity as the government's senior Afar representative...

It is very much a Djibouti government initiative: it is to be held in the country and the proposals to be discussed were launched by President Ismail Omar Guelleh at the United Nations General Assembly last September (AC Vol 41 No 1)...

At September's United Nations General Assembly Djiboutian President Ismael Omar Guelleh offered to host a new Somali reconciliation conference while suggesting that: Somali civil society take greater responsibility regional organisations use all necessary means to achieve a solution and warlords be charged with crimes against humanity...